Step 6: One More Challenge

Step 1: Watch the Video!

This little brain game is all about engineering a lower center of gravity. The idea has been around forever, but most people still can't do it. The challenge is simple .. just balance these 14 nails on one nail head. The nails can't touch anything except each other, and they all have to be balancing at the same time.

In this project you'll learn how to make a fun little mind puzzle, for giving as a gift, or for entertaining guests. You'll also learn the secret to getting all nails these to balance at once!

Watch the video to see how to make a simple, but nice, presentation platform for the puzzle!

http://www.thekingofrandom.com

Step 2: A Look at The Finished Project

All this project really needs, are about 15 framing nails (3" work well), and something to hammer one of them into. It's as easy as that!

However, to make this into a proper project, you're going to need to glorify the idea a little by making a nice presentation stand.

I used a simple spreadsheet program to make a template that would accommodate the 15 nails on a board of wood, with one nail right in the center.

about 10-15 years back one of my friends was a at a conference and they were offering two round trip tickets to the first person to solve it in under 15 minutes. He texted me asking if I could figure it out because I'm sort of a enginerd/puzzle geek and 7 minutes later I sent him back a picture which I can no longer find. Of course he took his wife and not me on a trip to vegas. I stole the idea for when I was doing medium sized presentations/training sessions (though I only gave away movie tickets or something similar). Initially I used a quick grip clamp to hold the base nail but for my presentations I put it through a small circle of plywood so it looked sort of like a giant thumbtack.

Congrats on making the newsletter once again! That 6 minute video was well worth my time, as always. Good to know others here on instructables appreciate your work as well, so keep up the good work. And trust me, we're not just watching for the attractive assistant!

I saw this in 'The Steam Packet Inn' a pub in Totnes, Devon, England last year. It was basicly the same as this but the set up was just a single nail with the head ground off nailed into a block of wood with a pile of nails next to it.